CHAPTER XI
BIBLICAL DEMONOLOGY AND WORLD GOVERNMENTS
IN EVERY AGE of human history and in every phase of daily life demons have played a tremendous and very important role. In no realm is their activity more significant than in the sphere of human government.
("All governments are illegal" RNM)
In this area possibly more than in any other field of their operation their activity has frequently not been clearly discerned or even partially understood. Their invisible nature, their close and inseparable identity with their visible human agents, and the supernatural character of their operations have combined to clothe them and their wicked machinations and evil enterprises in ominous mystery. Innumerable multitudes without the light of divine revelation, and other multitudes possessing the Bible, but uninitiated into the truths of the "mystery of lawlessness" (II Thess. 2:7), cannot get beyond "flesh and blood" (Eph.6:12). They can see only the human actors upon the stage of history. Wicked rulers, ruthless dictators, tyrants, oppressors, kings, governors, and presidents are, to them, the real and only characters in the great drama of life as it affects the political realm. They have no idea at all of the unseen realm of evil personalities, energizing and motivating their human agents. "The principalities ... the powers ... the world rulers of this present darkness," and "the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places" (Eph. 6:12, R.S.V.) are, so far as they are concerned, mere theological nonentities with which they do not reckon. However, in the realm of human government the unseen personalities of the evil supernatural sphere are just as real and active as their visible human agents, and any deeper interpretation of human history, tracing in it a divine purpose and goal, must take into account the invisible yet very real realm of spirit. Thus interpreted, human history is seen to be not merely an account of human activities and events independent of spiritual forces, but a continuous interaction of spiritual and human personalities, in which demons play a prominent part.
Although demonic activity is prominent in this and preceding ages, and will be augmented as the age draws to a close,
(Satan knows his time is almost done,
this is the reason for all the evil confusion in the world.)
it is not uncurtailed. God is permitting Satan under certain restrictions and through his myriads of demon-helpers to work out his own unholy ambition to be like God and to attempt all the functions of God. But Satan's program is foredoomed to failure and destruction and serves to demonstrate to the entire universe the utter folly of a creature attempting to act in independence of and in opposition to the Creator. Divine restrictions upon Satan's program are evident from Scripture.
(Dude has to ask permission, witness:
There is significantly a present ministry of the Holy Spirit in restraining the full development of evil until the end of the age.
(How much more "full development" we gonna have? With fake synthetic brains and people sexually metalating themselves etc? "Maybe this generation, maybe nots ass",
Matthew 24:34
Truly I tell you, this generation will not pass away until all these things have happened.
And? Me and Honey? and others? Wouldn't be going where we are (that we spoke about 5 years ago BTW) if it weren't this generation)
"For the mystery of lawlessness doth already work: only there is one that restraineth now, until he be taken out of the way" (II Thess. 2:7, A. RN.). Moreover, the saved part of humanity, which has been "delivered . . . from the power of darkness" (Col.1:13) is not under the satanic and demonic direction (unless it yields), but rather through the indwelling Spirit is the salt of the earth, hindering its untimely dissolution. Even more important from the governmental point of view is the clear intimation of Scripture that Satan, though in authority, is not wholly free from his Creator, but that any power he exercises in directing the governments of the world is by divine permission.
("God is allowing Satan to destroy your country right in front of your eyes.")
"Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God" (Rom. 13:1, R. S.V.).
(That means ecclesiastical authority as well,
But in the end?
We are called to resist COMPLETE Satanic rule
even at the cost of our own lives
Though Satan's power is divinely curbed, according to scriptural testimony, he nevertheless exercises authority over unregenerate mankind. The unsaved are unwittingly organized and, under Satanic and demonic leadership, governmentally directed in a great evil system or federation. This satanic order or "kosmos," described in numerous Biblical passages, is frequently ambiguously translated "world." It refers to the world of unredeemed men with their ideals and principles of living and acting in independence of God, which are in salient contrast to the ideals and principles given to the redeemed, and in perfect accord with Satanic ambition and pride. For this reason the world system furnishes an ideal sphere for the operation of Satan and his satellite demons.
(If you just can not admit to yourself?
That 8 billion character complex, sequential codes (DNA) have a source?
THEN YOU GOT WAY BIGGER ISSUES,
than not being able to admit to yourself
that 8 billion character codes
dont have a source.)
A. DEMONISM AND THE SATANIC WORLD SYSTEM
In more than thirty important passages the Greek word "kosmos," signifying in Greek literature from Homer on down .an apt and harmonious arrangement or constitution, order"' is employed in the New Testament to portray the whole mass of unregenerate men alienated from God, hostile to Christ, and organized governmentally as a system or federation under Satan (John 7:7; 14:27; I Cor. 1:21;11:32; I Pet. 5:9; I John 3:1, 13; et al.). A study of these various passages discloses the nature of this world order.
1. THE CHARACTER OF THE SATANIC WORLD SYSTEM
Satan is its directing head. Three times Jesus refers to Satan as "the prince (archon, ruler or governmental chief) of this world" (John 12:31; 14:30; 16:11). The same word is used of the rulers of the nations (Matt. 20:25; Acts 4:26). The Apostle Paul alludes to Satan as the governmental chief or ruler of the realm of evil supernaturalism, employing the same word archon ("prince") that Jesus used to describe Satan's leadership over this evil world system"the prince of the power of the air" (Eph. 2:2).2 In II Corinthians 4:4 the Apostle portrays Satan in a religious rather than a political sense as "the god of this age." John, the beloved, mentions Satan as the recognized head of this present world system. "Because greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world (the Satanic system)" (I John 4:4). "And we know that we are of God, and the whole world (the Satanic system) lieth in the wicked one" (I John 5:19).3 Jesus' message to the Church in Pergamos reveals that Satan's sway is over the earth and that he attacks God's people.4 "I know . . . where thou dwellest, even where Satan's seat (throne) is" (Rev. 2:13).
(It was in Turkey BTW)
Satan's leadership as a governmental chief thus extends to both the celestial and the terrestrial spheres, and these two realms interact in the events that transpire upon the earth.
Satan's puissant sway over the earth is further revealed by the prophet Isaiah in the vision in which he glimpses the entire career of Satan (Isaiah 14:12-17). In this he is depicted as the one "that didst lay low the nations" (v. 12), "that made the earth to tremble, that did shake the kingdoms" (v. 16), "that made the world as a wilderness, and overthrew the cities thereof; that let not loose his prisoners to their home" (v. 17). The panoramic sweep of this passage under the poetic figures employed seems clearly to embrace Satan's conquest of man through the temptation and the fall, his consequent usurpation of authority over man and the earth, and his inveterate resistance toward man's acceptance of God's gracious plan of salvation in Christ. In Isaiah 14:12-20 the prophetic perspective recedes still farther into the past, to outline under the figure of "the king of Babylon" Satan's primeval fall as "Lucifer, son of the morning." This evidently was his splendid title in the day he was created, when the world was young and "the morning stars (evidently other glorious ruling beings like himself) sang together, and all the sons of God (angels) shouted for joy" (Job 38:7).The pristine harmony, however, was soon disturbed by Satan's rebellion. Intimations are not lacking that Satan was placed in charge of the earth when this planet was originally created. G. S. Faber calls Satan "the Viceregal Governor of this Planetary Mansion of the Father"5 and that it was then that he said in his heart, "I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God (other ruling powers); I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation in the sides of the north; I will ascend above the height of the clouds; I will be like the most High" (Isa. 14:13-14). Evidently for this presumptuous act God pronounced judgment upon this pre-Adamite earth and it became chaotic as described in Genesis 1:2.
If this is true, it furnishes added evidence to the numerous Scriptures which assert Satan's sway over the earth, and that the offer Satan made to give our Lord all the "power" and the "glory" of the "kingdoms of the world" if He would worship him (Luke 4:5-7) was intensely real. It was no idle word that Satan uttered when he said to Christ: "All this power will I give thee, and the glory of them (the earthly kingdoms) : for that it is delivered unto me; and to whomsoever I will I give it. If thou therefore wilt worship me, all shall be thine." Satan said, "All these are delivered to me." That was true, but be careful. These were not delivered unto the devil by God. They had been delivered unto him by man. Man had yielded to him, and consequently these kingdoms had all passed under the mastery of the devil.6 In the light of these facts Satan's persistent efforts to keep man under his dominion-which he won when he caused man's fall in Eden-and to keep men away from the saving grace of Christ, become more understandable, as does the ceaseless war Satan is waging against the Most High to retain possession of the earth. Not only is Satan the directing head of the Satanic world system, but according to Scripture, the system itself is wholly evil.
("All governments are illegal."
RNM)
In the light of the moral, educational, religious, scientific and cultural aspects of man's civilization many believers hesitate to admit that the Satanic system is totally corrupt. Unbelievers deny it altogether. But men forget that this appraisal of fallen humanity, federated under Satan, is made according to the standard of divine holiness and not according to the faulty estimate of human morality. Unregenerate men, lacking spiritual discernment and subject to demonic deception, are incapable of comprehending God's standards; for His thoughts and ways are above their thoughts and ways as the heavens are higher than the earth (Isa. 55:8-9).
(His thoughts are above everybody's, not just the unregenerate (unbelievers)
Neither can they understand that in consequence of their Christ-rejecting attitude before God they stand condemned (John 3:18) ; and their morality, refinement, culture, and religiousness are only externalities unable to cover the unrighteousness of their hearts in the sight of God, who declares concerning fallen humanity, "there is none righteous, no, not one" (Rom. 3:10) and "all have sinned and come short of the glory of God" (Rom. 3:23).
"Neither can they understand that in consequence of their Christ-rejecting attitude before God they stand condemned (John 3:18) ; and their morality, refinement, culture, and religiousness are only externalities unable to cover the unrighteousness of their hearts in the sight of God."
(Reminds me of somebody Ethan
I wonder who?)
The lurid picture of unregenerate humanity presented in Romans3:10-18, with all its sordid details of human depravity, seems almost incompatible with the culture and accomplishments of civilized man, until it is realized that this description of the fallen race is as it appears before God's holiness, stripped of all externals, and as it will be manifest in reality in the end of the age when at last the hand of God, now restraining evil, will be removed. The Satanic world system is thus invariably presented in Scripture as inveterately evil in character, according to God's appraisal, not only in those conditions which the world confesses to be morally wrong, but also in those which it considers to be ideal. The Apostle John connects the "spirit of antichrist" with "the world" or the Satanic system (I John 4:3). He also declares that "whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world" or the Satanic system (IJohn 5:4). James asserts that "friendship with the world (the Satanic system) is enmity with God" (James 4:4).
Peter speaks of "the corruption that is in the world" (the Satanic system) (II Pet. 1:4) as well as "the pollutions of the world (the Satanic system)" (IIPet. 2:20). The Apostle Paul emphasizes the truth that the believer has been "delivered from the present evil age" (Gal. 1:4) and "from the power of darkness" (Col. 1:13) and is not to be conformed to the present world (Rom. 12:2).The Satanic world system is not only wholly evil, but as a world order it is limited and temporary. It is limited in its leadership. Satan, although powerful, is not, like Christ, omnipotent.
(Nor is he:
Omnipresent
(although his henchmen make it seem like he is)
Or omniscient.
He is a created being.
God Almighty alone
is the only
uncreated creator of all.
And as such?
HE IS THE SOLE MORAL AUTHORITY
OVER HIS CREATION.
(If matter cant be created?
The Law of Conservation of Mass
Then how did it get here?
If you say "nothing" created it?
Then why hasn't it been repeated and observed?
Refer back to uncreated creator above
if you need to do so.)
"Greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world (the Satanic system) (I John4:4). It is limited in its knowledge and understanding. "There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God" (Rom. 3:11). "And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled only to those who are perishing. In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the likeness of God" (II Cor. 4:4-5, R. S.V.). "Now the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him; and he cannot know them, because they are spiritually judged. But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, and he himself is judged of no man" (I Cor. 2:14-15). This system is temporary and transient. "And the world (the Satanic system) passeth away and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth forever" (I John 2:17).
(Amen! Amen! Amen!
Honey says.)
The Satanic world system is characterized by:
pride, lust, and war.
(Lust = a craving,
be it for power, fame, glory, honor, riches, material things others might have etc
and is not to be only associated with, the cravings of the flesh, where is it most commonly is.)
Its temptations, which are directed to selfish cravings of the fallen nature without thought of God, are those to which Eve succumbed in the garden (Gen. 3:6), and which Satan perennially employs to hold those who are slaves of his system or to win back those who have, through faith in Christ, broken with his program. "For all that is in the world (the Satanic system), the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world (the Satanic system)" (I John 2:16).James traces the source of wars and dissensions to. yielding to these temptations of the Satanic system. "What causes wars and what causes fightings among you? Is it not your passions that are at war in your members? You desire and do not have; so you kill. And you covet and cannot obtain; so you fight and wage war" (James 4:1-2, R. S.V.). The same spirit of pride and rebellion against God that motivated Satan in his proposed revolt against God takes possession of one who forms ties of amity with the Satanic system in following its ways and yielding to its temptations. "Unfaithful creatures! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore, whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God" (James 4:4, R. S. V.). The spirit of Satan, which thus dominates this evil world system, is basically antagonistic toward God-whatever cloak civilization, human culture, or man's religiousness may cast over it. Jesus distinctly disavowed that the royal power he exercised as King of the Jews, had any connection with the Satanic world system. "My kingship is not of this world (the Satanic system); if my kingship were of this world (this Satanic system), my servants would fight that I might not be handed over to the Jews, but my kingship is not from the world (the Satanic system)" (John 18:36, R. S. V.). In emphasizing that His kingly prerogative had no alliance whatever with the Satanic world system, our Lord incidentally enunciated a truth all too apparent to a war-weary generation which has already witnessed the agony and devastation of two world wars, with the paralyzing fear of a third hanging like a Damoclean sword over a distraught globe; namely, that the world governments of the Satanic system depend upon war and armed might to maintain or extend their power.
(This was written in the 50's and it has a "cold-war" bias to it.
But we have had endless wars for how long now?)
This is even more disconcerting, that although wars usually have an end, "the ends of wars on the earth appear to be getting more and more unsatisfactory."7
(That was written in the 50's.
We are still fighting WW1.
We really are.
Borders in Europe anybody?
When were the borders drawn up
for the current states
in the Middle East?
And who drew them up?
Anybody?
By the colonial powers of Europe
at the end of...drum roll plz:
WW1.
And were still fighting it.
Why?
Because just like the author states
in the passage that follows
the Satanic world system is based on it.)
Wars are also coming more frequently; and since the Satanic system is based upon and perpetuated by war,
(Who has been the most warfaring, war mongering, war profiting nation on this earth the last 60 years?
Hum?
Just because you dont wanna admit it
dont mean it aint true.)
peace will not ensue until Satan's world rule is destroyed at the second coming of Christ.
(The armies of the world are being drawn together right in front of your face, right now today we are seeing this started:
Zechariah 14:2, Acts 4:26, Revelation 16:14)
As Daniel foresaw: "And even unto the end shall be war: desolations are determined" (Dan. 9:26, R.V.); and as our Lord himself forewarned: "And ye shall hear of wars and rumors of wars; see that ye be no troubled; for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines and pestilences, and earthquakes in divers places" (Matt. 24:6-7).
Summarizing the evidence of some of the best commentators on our Lord's amazing prediction concerning war, in Matthew 24, Wilbur M. Smith correctly concludes: "This then, fundamentally, we will all agree upon, that our Lord in the last week of his life here on earth clearly predicted that wars, national conflicts, would definitely mark the entire age following between His first and second advents."8
(And it has!
No other book
has this kind of unparalleled
power of prediction.
None.
That argument is dead on arrival.)
In other words, Jesus was simply warning that despite the blind optimists and the multiplicity of vain prognosticators of peace-like Ahab's lying prophets of old (I Kings 22:6-28) -there can be no peace until the "Prince of Peace" comes to destroy the Satanic system and bind its prince-leader in the abyss (Rev.20:1-3). The Satanic world system presents a perpetual peril to the child of God. Not only is the believer continually faced with its subtle temptation addressed to the carnal nature in the threefold appeal to the "lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life"
(Of those three?
Which one is more important than the others?
None.
They are all equal.
So why then so much preaching about:
"lust of the flesh"
and not the other two?
Church got in a bad habit of going after easy targets
and letting real evil slide,
largely because preachers
were scared of the possible ramifications if they did.
ITS A NEW DAY.)
(I John 2:16), but Satan and his demon-helpers can in other ways gain access to the saints of God. He can exercise a cruel and harsh control over them. Jesus was anointed "with the Holy Spirit and with power" to heal "all that were oppressed by the devil" (Acts 10:38). He can fetter one. "And ought not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan hath bound, lo, these eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath day (Luke 13:16) ?" By divine permission and for a divine purpose he can touch a believer's possessions, his health, and his family (Job 1:9-12), and even his physical life (I Cor. 5:5).
Moreover, Satan can sift a Christian as wheat (Luke 22:31-32). Through his satellites he can work in human government and hinder prayer (Daniel 10:12-13), and through kings and magistrates stir up trouble and persecution against the people of God (Acts 4:25-27). He can buffet a Christian, as he did Paul: "And lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure" (II Cor.12:7).
(Lived it Ethan
to keep me humble son.
So that I know
I am only human
and to not get big headed.
John 15:5
I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit:
for without me ye can do nothing.
Come explain to me how its all not true.
Do it to my face at my residence.
Dare ya.
Over our table.
Literally calling you out and daring ya.
You will not like the outcome
if you choose to have such an encounter.
(Neither will anybody else)
Sheriffs deputies left out of here not even knowing why they didn't ask about the address on my drivers lic and there were UAP everywhere at that time, and preceding it .
Honey witnesses it to.
So come tell me how its all not true.)
He has the power of physical death (Heb. 2:14)
(I Gotta add here,
only if God allows him to have it
to serve his purpose(s)
ref:
and can in other ways gain access and cause damage to a believer as well as to an unbeliever. Scripture is emphatic in setting forth the power and the authority of Satan in this age.
(And nobody can figure out why?
Why all the evil confusion of the world today?)
And though his activity is circumscribed within certain divinely set limits,
(Ref: Job 1:12,18-19 again)
the precise extent of these boundaries is not revealed. However,
that he is the god of this age,
the head of a powerful world system,
and through human governments
is the director of the affairs
of unregenerate men,
albeit unknown to them,
is certain.
(Amen! Amen! Amen!)
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